Springer Advanced Public Procurement as Industrial Policy: The Aircraft Industry as a Technical University: 34 (Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation, 34)

Product Description This study is about the macroeconomic effects of positive externalities or industrial spillovers around advanced production. The case explored is the “technology di- dend” around Swedish aircraft industry, and in particular around the aircraft ma- facturer Saab, and the major industrial project of the JAS 39 Gripen multirole combat aircraft. The project is partly an updating of my book (in Swedish) Technology 1 Generator or a National Presige Project from 1995, but extends the analysis in s- eral directions. The study includes a chapter on spillovers from advanced production in an industrially developing economy, South Africa, that has acquired the JAS 39 Gripen for its Air Force. There is also a chapter in which the results for Sweden are discussed in the wider context of advanced public procurement in Europe. The text has been organized such that the main chapters have been written for academic readers. Two supplements include the technical details of data collection, mathematical models, and calculation methods. The first chapter is brief and focused on the results. It has the character of an extended executive summary. The second chapter summarizes the entire story; problems, results, and methods. This project would not have been possible without the generous support of a number of people. First of all great thanks go to all those people with crowded calendars in Swedish industrial firms that have set aside time to respond to my questions. Most of them have been listed at the end of the book. From the Back Cover The primary theme of this book is to investigate the macroeconomic significance of the "cloud" of technological spillovers that surrounds advanced industrial production: In what ways do technological innovations spread and contribute to economic growth? What policies can be developed to maximize the economic potential of innovations? These themes are particularly timely in the context of global economic crisis, government-sponsored stimulus packages, and the ongoing evolution from manufacturing-based to knowledge-based economies. To explore these issues in depth, Gunnar Eliasson focuses on a detailed case study of the development of Saab’s military aircraft, the JAS 39 Gripen system―a project that involves advanced technological innovations, a complex network of suppliers, public-private sector collaboration, and both military and commercial applications. The experience in the aircraft industry is also compared with spillover effects in telephony, computers, and medical technologies. The study emphasizes the role of customer competence in raising the quality of innovation supply, and of entrepreneurship and industrially competent venture capital for commercializing spillovers. Eliasson integrates micro-econometrics and case study analysis with macroeconomics, innovation study methods, and business administration theory to measure the effects of technology spillovers and generate a solid empirical foundation for policy analysis. In particular, he considers: the role of competent public (government) procurement as a new demand policy to support innovation supply the emergence of the advanced firms as "technical university," where continual learning takes place and entrepreneurship among customers and other stakeholders is encouraged issues of intellectual property rights and the social value of technological innovations the implications for strategic business practice and public policy The result is a book that will appeal to a broad spectrum of academics, industry leaders, and policymakers interested in the dynamics of innovation supply, commercialization of technologies and economic growth. About the Author Gunnar Eliassonis professor em of Industrial Economics/Dynamics at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm . He is an associate senior researcher at the Ratio Institute in Stockholm. He was previously president of the Industrial Institute for Economic and Social Resear